At Emmbrook Infant School the main aim of Religious Education is to explore what people believe and what difference this makes to how they live, so that pupils can gain the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to handle questions raised by religion and belief, reflecting on their own ideas and ways of living.
In addition to learning about religions and worldviews, Religious Education offers students the chance to develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally and to reflect on their own beliefs, being able to be discerning about the many attitudes and opinions they will encounter.
The non-statutory 2013 National Curriculum Framework for RE states that pupils should:
- Know about and understand a range of religions and worldviews
- Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and worldviews
- Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and worldviews.
To achieve these aims, Religious Education provokes challenging questions about meaning, purpose, beliefs about God, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human.
RE plays an important role in preparing pupils for life in the modern world, and should enable them to flourish as citizens in a global society.
Working from the Pan-Berkshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2018-2023, we believe that, using an enquiry-based model, children’s critical thinking skills can be developed, their motivation to learn increased, and their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy with people and their beliefs, religious or otherwise, will be enhanced.
This approach takes very seriously the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief. RE does not try to persuade but rather to inform and develop the skills with which evaluation can take place.
Religious Education in the Early Years:
RE sits very firmly within the areas of personal, social and emotional development and understanding of the world. From an early age, the children at Emmbrook Infant School learn to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others, and learn how to form positive and respectful relationships.
In the Early Years, the children ask questions and reflect on their own feelings and experiences. They use their imaginations and curiosity to develop their appreciation of, and wonder at, the world in which they live. Looking at people in the communities allows them to explore beliefs of others.
Implementation
Religious Education taught at Emmbrook Infant School (according to the Pan-Berkshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2018-2023) ensures pupils encounter core concepts in religions and beliefs in a coherent way, developing their understanding and their ability to handle questions of religions and belief. At Emmbrook Infant School, the teaching and learning approach has three core elements which are woven together to provide breadth and balance within teaching and learning about religion and beliefs:
Believing Behaving Belonging
The planning model used in Discovery works on a 6-part planning process focusing on a 4-step enquiry. Each enquiry demands the equivalent of 6 lessons, but teaching time can be blocked if this enhances learning. Each enquiry has a learning objective which shows the learning over the six lessons.
The 4-step enquiry.
The key question for the enquiry is an Attainment Target 2 (impersonal) question, needing an answer that weighs up “evidence” and reaches a conclusion based on this.
Step 1 (usually 1 lesson)
Engagement: The human experience underpinning the key question is explored here within the children’s own experience, whether that includes religion or not. If they can relate to the human experience they will better be able to understand the world of religion they are to enquire into. This is Attainment Target 2 (personal)
Step 2 (usually 3 lessons)
Investigation: The teacher guides the children through the enquiry, studying Attainment Target 1 (Learning ABOUT) subject knowledge (the factual base about the religion), carefully selected to assist their thinking about the key question.
Step 3 (usually 1 lesson)
Evaluation: This lesson draws together the children’s learning and their conclusions about the key question of that enquiry. This is an assessment task which the teacher can assess by using the Level descriptors at the end of each unit’s planning.
This is Attainment Target 2 (impersonal)
Step 4 (usually 1 lesson)
Expression: Children are taken back to Step 1, their own experience, to reflect on how this enquiry might have influenced their own starting point/beliefs etc. There is often further evidence for their books produced in this lesson.
SMSC opportunities are identified in each enquiry, and are mapped on the overview grid for each year group. Our belief is that, using an enquiry-based model well, children’s critical thinking skills can be developed, their motivation to learn increased, and their knowledge and understanding of, and empathy with people and their beliefs, religious or otherwise, will be enhanced. This approach takes very seriously the philosophy that children are free to make their own choices and decisions concerning religion and belief. RE does not try to persuade but rather to inform and develop the skills with which evaluation can take place.
Impact
At Emmbrook Infant School, we seek to ensure that all children in our school are educated to develop spiritually, academically, emotionally and morally to enable them to better understand themselves and others and to cope with the opportunities, challenges and responsibilities of living in a rapidly changing, multicultural world.
Regular assemblies, visitors from different religions, and celebrations of learning help to celebrate the diversity of the school community and promote positive images of people in the wider community, including their beliefs, traditions, culture, language and history.
At Emmbrook Infant School, we strongly value the cultures and faiths of all the children in our school and as such we prioritise studying all the world religions to ensure our pupils develop a strong sense of tolerance and understanding.